Royals Select John McMillon

The Royals announced that they have selected right-hander John McMillon. In corresponding moves, right-hander Nick Wittgren was optioned to Triple-A while righty Brad Keller was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

McMillon, 25, was signed by the Royals in 2020 as an undrafted free agent. Since then, he’s climbed the minor league ranks by racking up huge strikeout totals, but also demonstrating a clear lack of control. He spent last year in Single-A, tossing 31 innings at that level with a 6.10 earned run average. He struck out 30.8% of batters faced but also walked an eye-popping 26%.

Here in 2023, he’s already covered three levels, going from Single-A to High-A and Double-A. He’s thrown a combined 51 1/3 frames between those stops with a 2.10 ERA. The 12.4% walk rate is still on the high side but a massive improvement over last year. He hasn’t lost any strikeout stuff either, punching out 45.3% of opponents.

With those extremes in his performance, there’s naturally some variation in the evaluations on his abilities. FanGraphs ranked him the #11 prospect in the system last month while Baseball America recently pegged him at #29. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs highlights McMillon’s fastball and slider, giving both pitches a 70 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale, adding that the righty could be an elite reliever right now with better control.

The Royals are well out of contention with a record of 39-82, second-worst in baseball with only the A’s beneath them. They can use the remainder of the season to give McMillon a shot at getting big league hitters out, skipping him over Triple-A, at least for the time being.

As for Keller, his transfer is largely a formality since he’s already been on the IL longer than 60 days, landing there back on May 19 due to right shoulder impingement syndrome. He started a rehab assignment in June but his discomfort eventually returned, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. He started another rehab assignment earlier this week but will have to ramp up and stay healthy before he’s likely to be activated. He’s set to become a free agent at the end of the season.